Gulf Oil and Piaggio Group sign multi-year MotoGP partnership
Gulf Oil and the Piaggio Group, through its technical flagship Aprilia Racing, announced that they have entered into a multi-year partnership for competing in MotoGP. This comes after the two brands have already worked together at the World Superbike Championship.
Aprilia is working towards a competitive 2019 MotoGP season. In January, Piaggio brought in former Ferrari Sporting Director, Massimo Rivola to head Aprilia Racing. There are two new crew chiefs and a talented rider line up of Andrea Iannone, Aleix Espargaro and Briton, Bradley Smith. The 19 race MotoGP calendar travels five continents and starts on March 10 in Qatar.
"The opportunity to move up into MotoGP, as a major partner of Aprilia Racing was a logical next step forward after World Superbikes," explained Gulf Vice President International, Frank Rutten. "Aprilia is one of the most successful racing marques of all time while Gulf, of course, has a long history of success in motorsport. Making the move up to Grand Prix racing with a manufacturer that we know matches our ethos of quality, endurance and passion and our desire for progress."
"We are delighted to be forging this new partnership with Gulf," stated Aprilia Racing CEO, Massimo Rivola. "It is an iconic brand with an impressive range of products and a great racing history. We look forward to writing the next chapter in this history over the coming years. I am very pleased to have Gulf working with Aprilia Racing in our upcoming MotoGP campaigns and it will be exciting to see these two great brands moving forward together."